HRC stays above $630/ton in US; sentiment mixed

US hot-rolled coil prices remained above $630 per short ton on tight supply and long lead times, but sentiment from buyers was mixed as sources weighed buying material now or waiting for lower prices.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $31.52 per hundredweight ($630.40 per ton) on Wednesday October 7, down 0.4% from $31.65 per cwt on Tuesday October 6 and up 4.1% from $30.29 per cwt a week ago on September 30.

Heard in the market
New inputs were received in a range of $29.50-32.50 per cwt.

According to market participants, the higher end of the range reflects offers for smaller tonnage and the lower reflects offers for larger tonnages.

Lead times are at least six weeks and some sources anticipate January booking will be open soon.

Due to a tight spot market, buyers said mills continue to be in the driver’s seat. Some believe mills are happy to keep capacity down in order to achieve higher prices.

Market outlook was mixed, with some sources scrambling to buy coil while others said they were waiting until the price drops.

Quotes of the day

“As long as lead times are long and supply is tight, mills will get their way,” one distributor said. “We try not to give our inventory away for a sale.”

A second distributor said the psychology of the buyer has shifted and believes that prices will begin to cool off in the first quarter of 2021.

“When [prices] were sinking, nobody wanted to get into the water, it was way too cold. Now that psychology has changed, everyone is jumping in headfirst,” the second distributor said. “Sometimes the herd doesn’t even know if it’s running to greener pastures or off the cliff.”

Index Calculation
Inputs were carried over in the producer and consumer sub-indices due to a lack of new transactional data there.

Fastmarkets’ flagship global steel event, Steel Success Strategies, is running as an online conference on October 26-28, 2020. Register today to hear directly from Fastmarkets’ pricing experts and analysts, as well from some of the most important chief executive officers in global steel.

What to read next
The purpose of this review is to ensure that the index continues to accurately reflect prevailing market conditions. We welcome feedback from industry participants on potential amendments to the base specification. This consultation, which is open until August 9, 2025 seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in […]
Information came to light that mill buying offers had been adjusted for July following Fastmarkets’ settlement of these prices on that date, leading to an incorrect published assessment for the following grades: MB-STE-0789 Steel scrap No1 heavy melting, consumer buying price, fob Montreal, Canadian $/net ton was previously published at C$245 ($179.41) per net ton, a C$10 […]
Mexico’s production and consumption of long steel fell year-on-year in May due to weakness in the country's construction sector, but posted a month on month gain, according to the latest data from the Mexican steel chamber, CANACERO.
This price is a part of the Fastmarkets scrap package. For more information on our North America Ferrous Scrap methodology and specifications please click here. To get in touch about access to this price assessment, please contact customer.success@fastmarkets.com.
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for its MB-CO-0021 cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end), which was published incorrectly on Wednesday July 2 due to a reporter error.
The prices are: The changes were made in order to ensure that the liquidity and price volatility in these markets is adequately captured. The changes were welcomed by market participants seeking more granular coverage and increased transparency. In the UK, the decline of domestic steelmaking means the scrap market is dominated by exports. Exporters told Fastmarkets that […]